1999 Chevy Metro 1.0L 5spd ecomodding thread - Page 18 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

MetroMPG · 12-23-2014, 11:43 PM

Check your plugs & exhaust for soot? If you have a minor exhaust leak it can hurt MPG without setting the check engine light. Happened to me once (though it was so severe, I knew something was wrong right away).

Daox · 12-30-2014, 03:59 PM

I think I found my issue. It was a real cold day and I was having troubles with the engine dying worse than ever before. I'd start it and as soon as I'd touch the shifter... yep, it died. I took a look at my kill switch and sure enough, one of the blade connectors was just a loose fit. I took it off, gave it a good chomp, and off I went. Its been good since. I'm looking forward to the new shift knob with integrated kill switch.

I also got a VDO vacuum gauge for the car for Christmas. I'm planning on mounting it in the corner of the gauge cluster as shown below. Does anyone know a good place to bring the vacuum tube through the firewall?

Daox · 01-06-2015, 10:08 AM

Last night when I left to go home from work the Metro wouldn't start. It was a brisk 3F out at the time and the battery simply didn't have the guts to push the 3 cylinders over fast enough to get it started. I grabbed a coworker and we jumped the car in no time and off I went.

So, whats a guy to do with a dead battery? Well, you know you're an ecomodder if you're thinking alternator delete time with a deep cycle battery.

Thankfully, I already went through this routine when it was still warm out, so I knew I could get away with a group 24 deep cycle lead acid battery. So, that is now what resides under the hood of the Metro. Its an Exide 80Ah group 24 battery. It barley fits, and still needs some tweaking to be mounted properly.

Daox · 02-25-2015, 02:44 PM

The Metro has been great, plugging away despite the bitter cold (lots of -0F here lately). My last fill up showed me 44 mpg, but I'm very sure it was a short fill. The pump clicked off probably 20 times. The only reason I stopped is I didn't want to spill gas and I knew I was getting close.

Anyway, I'm quite sure that there is an issue with the filler neck. The previous owner said it was fixed twice to meet emissions... dunno what that means. I assume the setup is pretty simple, liquid goes down the big pipe, air vents up the small one next to it? Perhaps the small one is plugged?

MetroMPG · 02-25-2015, 03:09 PM

I suspect 44 MPG US is pretty close to "real" for that kind of frigid weather. Also, it was an empty-to-full fill, not a short distance.

Especially for AN UN-FREAKING-MODIFIED METRO!

I drove the Flea briefly for the first time in about 4 months on the weekend. I miss the little puddlejumper!

Daox · 02-25-2015, 03:35 PM

Its probably not horribly far off, but I do think it was short. We'll find out next fill hopefully.

And its not unmodified, I gotsa grill block AND a kill switch.

2000mc · 02-25-2015, 03:39 PM

Last time I saw a metro in the dealership it was getting the filler pipe replaced because it rusted out

MetroMPG · 02-25-2015, 05:21 PM

My bad: I forgot about the kill switch. But I thought the grille block fell off!

Daox · 02-25-2015, 05:23 PM

The passenger side did, the driver's side is still there. Thankfully, the driver's side is the side where the radiator is, so it actually helps a fair amount as far as warm up goes.

Daox · 03-09-2015, 07:18 PM

I filled up again. Pretty decent considering the frigid late Feb and March weather. I got 38.4 mpg.